Sriracha is a spicy chili sauce that has exploded in popularity over the past 20 years. It's a versatile condiment that can be used as a dipping sauce for shrimp cocktails, a marinade for chicken wings or ribs, a seasoning for noodle soups, or even . The seamless blend of spicy, tangy, sour, and sweet notes collide to make sriracha an oft sought-after taste enjoyed in dozens of countries.
What many people may not know is that sriracha's origins trace back nearly a century to a Cantonese housewife's kitchen in Thailand. It started as a homemade sauce Thanom Chakkapak whipped up for her family when she cooked seafood. Her neighbors instantly fell in love with the sauce when she gave them a taste.
And just like that, a new legacy was born. Chakkapak and her relatives began bottling the sauce up and selling it in 1935. When it came time to christen her creation, Chakkapak dubbed it Sriraja Panich, an ode to the Si Racha coastal Thailand district that she and her family called home.
The sauce garnered its name from there because the southeast Thailand province is also called Sri Racha. For almost 50 years, Chakkapak marketed her original recipe of thinly laced vinegar blended with aged peppers and red chili flake. She ultimately sold the company to international sauce manufacturer Thaitheparos in 1984.
How the world grew a craving for sriracha Sriracha has ascended to great heights from its humble beginnings on Thailand's gulf shores. In just the U.S.
, sales for the garlicky sauce.